{"id":7385,"date":"2025-10-16T22:39:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T22:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/7385\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T22:39:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T22:39:08","slug":"takeoff-from-orlando-to-tampa-ron-desantis-says-vertiports-are-under-construction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/7385\/","title":{"rendered":"Takeoff from Orlando to Tampa? Ron DeSantis says vertiports are under construction"},"content":{"rendered":"

In what sounds like an announcement right out of \u201cThe Jetsons,\u201d two vertiports to fly people around are being constructed at the FDOT SunTrax<\/a> testing facility in Central Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis<\/a> said Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will be the nation\u2019s first advanced air mobility test track, and it will have dedicated airspace,\u201d DeSantis said during the Bartow news conference<\/a>. \u201cFlorida\u2019s going to be a place where it\u2019ll be a testing ground for this new technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

This airborne Uber concept came after DeSantis discussed vertiports during meetings part of his international trade mission<\/a> to the Paris Air Show this Summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things that was kind of in vogue is this advanced air mobility. They kind of look like almost like a helicopter, but they don\u2019t have the propeller,\u201d DeSantis said. \u201cThey just have like little small wings and they just go straight up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drivers know Interstate 4 can be a particularly nightmarish trek from Orlando to Tampa, which could benefit if the vertiports take off, literally, DeSantis said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The vertiports could each carry about four passengers and travel within 60 miles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

DeSantis didn\u2019t discuss how much this experiment could cost, although he acknowledged, \u201cIf they can make it economical, it would take some traffic off the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeSantis sounded hopeful but skeptical.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say that I was mildly interested and then mildly excited,\u201d he said when he first heard of the concept. \u201cI do have questions, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

The announcement came as DeSantis highlighted road construction projections getting sped up through his Moving Florida Forward<\/a> initiative.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The state plans to conduct an I-4 expansion to add new lanes on 17 miles in Hillsborough County from Interstate 75 to County Line Road. The construction project, initially budgeted for 2037, will start in 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is going to make a big difference for folks (who) are traveling in that Hillsborough County<\/a> section of Interstate 4,\u201d DeSantis said. \u201cIt will increase reliable traffic flow, and it will give people a better option to be able to get from the Tampa area into Central Florida or vice versa.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In what sounds like an announcement right out of \u201cThe Jetsons,\u201d two vertiports to fly people around are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[4568,7837,139,141,140,7838,412,7839],"class_list":["post-7385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-interstate-4","tag-moving-florida-forward","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-road-construction","tag-ron-desantis","tag-vetiports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}